Self-firing explosive bomb.



J. DUDGSON.

SELF FlRlNG EXPLOSIVE BOMB. APPLICATION mw AUG.3. 191s.

-1-, 1 61,461 Patented Nov. 23; 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- Y Arme/vir l J. -D0nGs0N. SELF FIRING EXPLOSIVE 80MB.

' A APPLICATION FILED AUG.3' I9I5; 1,1 61,1461 Patented Nov. 23, 1915 2 SHEETs-susn 2.

WITNESS v WEI/ran faco Dodyaoff A TTOHNEY VJACOB DODGSON, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

SELF-FIRING EXPLOSIVE BOMB.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 23, 1915.

Application led August 3, 1915. Serial No. 43,362.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB DonGsoN, citizen of the United States,residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of fashin'gton, have invented a certain new and u se-l ful Improvement in Self-Firing Explosive Bombs, of which the following is a specilication.

My invention relates to improvements in self-firing explosive bombs that are adapted for submarine work, and the object of my improvements is to provide a buoyant ex-l plosive bomb which shall embody clock-'operated means for causing it to explode at a desired predetermined instant of time, and which shall be adapted to be carried by a submarine vessel t0 a point beneath a vessel to be destroyed and there be permitted to rise by its own buoyancy, while guided by means associated with said submarine vessel, secretly to engage with and automatically fasten itself to the bottom of the vessel to be destroyed, whereupon said guiding means may be disengaged, thus leaving the bomb fastened in its position to explode automatically upon the expiration of a predetermined period of time. I accomplish this object by devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein- Figure 1 shows my invention as embodied in a bomb and a submarine vessel with which it is associated, by a view in vertical midsection, only a fragment of said submarine vessel being illustrated; and Fig. 2 is a view in side elevationof such bomb in engagement with the bottom of a vessel representing a war ship that is to be destroyed, to-

gether with a diagram representing a submerged submarine vessel provided with means by. which said bomb was guided to and disposed'upon the bottom of said war ship automatically to fasten itself thereto.

Referring to the drawings throughout which :like reference numerals indicate like parts, la bowl-shaped iron receptacle 4 is provided with an integral hollow stud5- which extends upwardly from the central portion of the inner surface of `its bottom portion to project its upper end through a non'magn'etic metal plate 6 which serves as a removable water tight cover for the receptacle 4, said plate 6 being bolted to an in wardly projectingl integral flange 7 that is disposed within the upper part of the receptacle 4 there being provided a rubber gasket S that is disposed between the plate 6 joint.

The top edge portion of the receptacle 4 that projects higher than the plate 6 is serrated to form teeth 9 therearound and disposed within the hollow stud 5 to be vertically movable therein is an iron plunger 10 whose top end terminates with a flange 11 whose top surface is provided with teeth 12 and within the lower portion of said hollow stud 5 is disposed a helical compression spring 13 upon which the plunger 10 rests and which serves to maintain said plunger 10 in a normal position whereby the toothed iange 11 will be in a higher plane than the serrated top edge of the receptacle 4.

Disposed to surround the hollow iron stud 5 is an electrical helix 14, the upper terminal of which is electrically connected to the plate 6 while its lower terminal is connected to one terminal of an electric battery 15, the other terminal of which battery 15 is electrically connected with an insulated contact spring 16 which is disposed in the path of the lower end of a metal plunger 17, said contact spring 16 being secured to the underside of a horizontal partition 1S which divides the interior of the receptacle 4 into two chambers 19 and 20.

The plunger 17 is slidably disposed within a socket 21 that is lixed to theunderside of the plate 6 to extend downwardly therefrom, the lower end portion of said plunger 17 being disposed to project downwardly through the lower end of said socket 21 and through the partition 18 in a position to engage with the end of the contact spring 16 when such plunger 17 is depressed against the force of a helical compression spring 22 which is disposed to surround said plunger 17 within the socket 21 and which is adapted normally to maintain said plunger 17 at such elevation as will insure its disengagement with the end of the contact spring 16. The upper end portion. of the plunger 17 extends through a packing box 23 and upwardly therefrom to a plane higher than the plane of the serrated top edge of the receptacle 4. posed to extend through' the plunger 17 at a point adjacent to the top surface ofthe packing box 23 is a removable pin 24 that may serve normally to prevent the .plunger 17 from being accidentally depressed to make Contact with the contact spring 16.

,The chamber 19 is lled with a suitable' eXplosive material, as gun powder, and embedded within such explosive material is a suitable ignition device that is adapted to be operated by an electric spark which may be generated in the secondary winding 26 of an induction coil with which such ignition device 25 is connected by conductors 27 and 28, the primary winding 29 of such induction coil being connected oneend to one terminal of the battery 15 by a conductor 30 while its other end is connected to an insulated contact point 31, which contact point 31 is disposed to adapt it to be engaged by a contact lever 32 that is pi votally attached to a clock 33, but electrically insulated therefrom, said contact lever 32 being connected by a conductor 34 with the other end of the battery 15 whereby when the lever 32 engages with the contact point 31, then current from thebattery 15 will energize the primary coil 29 thus to induce a sparking current in the secondary coil 26 which will operate the ignition device 25 thus to ignite the explosive material within which it is embedded.

The lever 32 is operatively associated with the internal mechanism of the clock 33, in a Well known manner not shown, whereby it may be actuated to make a contact with the contact point 31 at any desired predetermined instant of time in response -to the operation of the clock 33, but normally, however, the mechanism ofthe clock 33 is at rest.

In order to control the operation of the mechanism of the clock 33 there is provided a lever 35 pivotallyy attached to said clock 33 which engages with a moving part of the mechanism of said clock 33, in 'a manner not shown, whereby a downwardmovement of said lever 35 will start the clock 33A to operate and such downward movement of said lever 35 may be effected by the operation of an electromagnet 36 which is adapted to attract an armature '37 attached to the outwardly projecting end of said lever 35. One terminal of the electromagnet 36 is attached to the wall of the receptacle 34, while its other terminal. is connected by a cgnductor 38 with one terminal of the battery 15 whose other terminal 1s connected to the contact vspring 16, whereby said magnet 36 will be energized to start the clock 33 to operate only when the .plunger 17 is in engagement with the Contact spring 16.

In orderv that one may gain access to the :lock 33 for the purpose of setting its mechanism to causethe lever 32 to be actuated to make a contact with the contact lspring.

. 47 of the submarine vessel.

posed within a depression in the deck 39 of a submarine vessel where it is secured to rest on the bottom of such depression by a releasableconnector 40 which is fastened to the end of a cable 41,said connector 40 being releasably fastened to lugs 42 (which l project downwardly from the bottom of the receptacle 4) by a hook 43 which is pivotally attached to said connector 40, as shown, and which is adapted by Aswinging movements to fasten and unfasten said connector 40 with respect to its engagement with the lugs 42. A cable 44 it attached to the hook 43 and such cable 44 together with the cable 41 extends downwardly through a tube 45 into a reel-box 46 that is secured to a part The tube 45 is provided with a flange on its upper end which is tightly joined to the bottom surface of the wall of the depression in the deck 39 in a position concentric with the opening through which the lugs 42 project. The bottom end of the tube 45 is provided with a flange which is secured by a water tight joint to the top -wall of the reel-box 46, which reel-box 46 is itself Vwater tight.

The top wall of the reel-box 46 is provided with an opening through which the cables 41 and 43 may be-eXtended to wind and unwind on reels 48 and 49, respectively, which are indicated by circular dotted lines in Fig. 1, said reels 48 and 49 being adapted to be rotated by cranks 50 and 51, respectively, the reel 49 being provided with a ratchet 52 and a pawl 53 whereby when the hook is in a position to fasten the connector 40 vto the lugs 42, then the "reel 49 may be turned forcibly to actuate the cable 41 to draw downwardly and'hold the vrecep-l tacle 4 on its seat within the depressionin thedeck 39, and then the.. pawl 53'by vits engagement with the ranch-@52 Win main:

tain'said receptacle 4 iilfrnly'ponits seat. The reel 48 may be free to revolve in either direction. j

Associated with the. deck 39 of the sub'- marine vessel is a glass window, not shown,

of thewater and such vessel'isialso provided with a. Well known form of-periscope, not shown, through which may be'observed another vessels movements. j

The operation of the apparatus riayl be described as follows: Through the periscope through which when the vessel is submerged i i one may look upwardly toward the surface.

of the submarine vessel an enemys .vessehf.-

( as the vessel 55`in Fig. 2, is seen and thereupon the submarine vessel is submerged 'and' directed in a course to pass under such vessel 55 and when the submarinevessel reaches a point directly beneath such vessel .35 one may see the vessel 55 b v looking up through the glass window in the (leek 39. and thereupon the pawl 53 on the reel-box t' is disengaged from the teeth of the ratchet 52 to release the reel 4S) whereuptm the receptacle 4 b v its own biurvaney will rise to engage with the bottom of the vessel 55 with the i result that the plunger 12 will be depressed and the serrated edge ot the top ot' the receptacle 4 will be pressed against the iron surface of the bottom of the vessel and the plunger 17 will be depressed to make 3 contact with the contact spring'lG, (its safety pin 24 having been removed when the receptacle was placed in its position in the depression in the deck 39 of the submarine vessel) whereupon the current from the battery will energize the helix 14 to magnetize the stud 5 and plunger 12 together with the annular wall of the receptacle 4, the teeth 12 making one magnetic pole while the teeth 9 make an opposite magnetic 3 pole. thus causing the receptacle 4 to keep its place on the bottom of the vessel 55 as indicated in Fig. 2. The Contact thus made between the plunger 17 and the contact spring 16 also causes the electromagnet 36 to attract the armature 37 thus to start the operation of the clock 33. The receptacle 4 having been thus attached to the vessel 55, the reel 48 is turned to pull the cable 44 to cause the hook 43 to move to release the connector 40, whereupon both reels 4S and 49 may be turned to haul downwardly the cables 41 and 44 against force of the buoyanry of a cork float 56 which isfixed to the upper end portion of the cable 41, -which float 5G serves to prevent a too rapid falling of the cables 41 and 44 which otherwise might get tangled. The cables 41 and 44 having been reeled the submarine vessel may proceed on its course to other duty, and aiter the lapse of the predetermined period of time as fixed by adjustment of the clock 33 the lever 22 will be actuated to make contact with contact point 31 whereupon the ignition device will ignite the powder in the chamber 19 and the resultant explosion may destroy the vessel in an obvious manner. It the receptacle 4 should accidentally become detached from the vessel betore the explosion takes place the plunger l 17 would rise and the clock 33 would stop by reason of the release ofthe armature 37. Obviously, in place of the electric helix 14, there may be employed equivalent means comprising steel permanent magnets secured to the receptacle 4 in a position to make contact with the bottom of an iron vessel, comparatively little magnetic force being required since the buoyancy. of the receptacle 4 serves to force it against the 1 bottom of such vessel, the magnetism servforms, dimensions and arrangement of parts of my invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In a self-tiring bomb of the class described, the combination with an iron receptacle closed on one of its sides by a removable plate ot' non-magnetic metal and having an iron stud disposed to extend from the central portion of that iron side wall which is opposite said removable plate to and through the central portion of said removable plate, said receptacle being of a size and form to adapt it to ioat on a body of water with the weight of a desired load contained therein,of a cable, one end of which is releasably fastened to the central portion of the outer side of the iron wall that is opposite said removable plate, whereby said receptacle may be releasably secured in a submerged position in said body of water with said removable plate uppermost; a partition disposed to divide the interior space of said receptacle into two compartments; a mass of explosive material disposed in one of said compartments; an electric generator disposed in the other of said compartments; an electric circuit-breaker having one ot' its members electrically connected with the walls of said receptacle and yieldingly disposed to extend upwardly from said other compartmentto and through said removable'plate to a plane higher than the top edges of said receptacle, while its other member is disposed within said other compartment where it is electrically connected with one terminal of said electric generator; an electric helix disposed to surround said iron stud and having one of its terminals electricallyconnected with said removable plate while its other terminal is connected to the other terminal of said electric generator; a clock disposed in said other compartment and provided; with an armatureelever in association with its mechanism whereby movements of said armaturelever may startand stop said clock; an electromagnetassociated with said armaturelever, said electric generator and saideircuitbreaker whereby said clock may be started and stopped in response to the operation of said circuit-breaker; an induction coil disposed in said other compartment; an electric switch operatively associated with the meehanism of said clock with said electric gen# erator and with the primary windingsof said induction coil whereby said electric switch may be operated upon the expiration of a predetermined period of time after the starting of said clock; an electrically operated ignition device embedded in said ex plosive material, and conducting wires disposed to connect said ignition device with the secondary winding of said induction coil.

2. A self-firing bomb of the class described, which embodies a buoyant iron receptacle closed on one of its sides by a removable plate of non-magnetic metal and having an iron stud disposed to extend from the central portion of that side wall which is opposite said removable plate 'to and through the central portion of said removable plate; electromagnetic means for magnetizing said'iron stud and the iron walls of said receptacle; a partition disposed within said receptacle to divide its interior space into separate compartments; a mass of explosive material disposed in one of said compartments; an 'electric ignition device embedded in said explosive material; electric means for causing said ignition device to ignite said explosive material at the expiration of a predetermined period of time; and a cable releasably fastened tolthe central portion of the other side of the iron wall vthat is opposite said removable plate, whereby said receptacle may be releasably secured in a submerged position in a body of water with said removable plate uppermost.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 22nd day of July A. D., 1915.

JACOB DODGSON. Witnesses:

O. JOHNSON, GEO. BLAIR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, .by addressing the Commissioner olf Batents,

Washington, D. C." 

